Kolkata, October 24 — The West Bengal Congress has ruled out any seat-sharing arrangement with either the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction or the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state's upcoming elections for seven urban civic bodies, scheduled for next month, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press

Sources in the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) said that although the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress has sent informal signals about the possibility of a seat-sharing arrangement, the top state leadership has rejected the idea. The state party leadership claimed the upcoming urban civic body polls are not the right platform for such an experiment.

Source: IANS via Hi India

State Congress president Subhankar Sarkar said any seat-sharing arrangement for the forthcoming urban civic body polls would be meaningless, claiming that past experience shows such local body polls are transformed into a farcical exercise due to the combined influence of the ruling party and the state administration — an allegation made by Sarkar, not an established finding. He further claimed that BJP candidates would in all probability win from almost all the wards in these seven municipal bodies, and that the BJP would then have the opportunity to claim victory as spontaneous public support against a united opposition.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) leadership has also made it clear that despite being part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc at the national level, in local body polls the Left Front will contest independently without any seat-sharing arrangement with any other political force in the state.